Sunday Getaway: Dillon Point

A walk at Benicia State Recreation Area leads to Glen Cove for gorgeous views of Carquinez Strait and a prize find of ancient grinding mortars in the rocks along the shore.

Photo: Tom Stienstra, Richard Degraffenreid / Special to The Chronicle

What you see: Dillon Point and Glen Cove in the Benicia State Recreation Area have shoreline trails with gorgeous water views up and down Carquinez Strait. If you look in the rocks along the shore, you also can find ancient mortars. The park is a getaway for walks, hikes, bike rides, picnics and bird watching. Thousands drive past on I-780 (and nearby I-80) without a clue.

Location: Benicia State Recreation Area is on the north side of Carquinez Strait on Dillon Point.

When you arrive: Follow the directions as provided to arrive at the parking area at the end of Dillon Point Road near the water’s edge (this is one of five parking areas at the Benicia SRA). A trail leads south a short distance, a walk of a few minutes on a flat service road, to Dillon Point for its views. When you round the point, you can face west and get a lookout across the water to Carquinez Bridge (officially the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge).

Hike, bike: The routes are a series of dirt roads and bike paths, with spurs to the shoreline. The Benicia Bay Trail connects to the Bay Ridge Trail and west to Glen Cove. If you explore the rocks along the shore here, you can find mortars once used to grind the seeds of shelled acorns into flour (then flushed with water to rinse out the bitter). On a bike, you can extend to the west out of the State Recreation Area. It’s a short trip then into Glen Cove Waterfront Park.

Fish: From late March through April, Dillon Point can be one of the better spots to fish from shore in the Bay-Delta. Use grass shrimp for bait and be there at high tide for the first two, three hours of the outgoing tide. That is when sturgeon and striped bass often arrive to dine.

Bird watching: Don’t park at the suggested area near Dillon Point, but rather at the main entrance, near the junction of Rose Drive and Dillon Point Road. Take the Hike and Bike Trail/SF Bay Ridge Trail a short distance southeast to a junction with the Nature Trail on your right. That leads into the Southampton Bay Wetland Natural Preserve (no dogs or bikes allowed).

A personal note: When I helped paddle a canoe in a week from Redding to San Francisco, this is where we camped before the final push to Fisherman’s Wharf.

From San Francisco: Take I-80 East over Bay Bridge six miles (get in center/left lane) to the split. Stay left on to merge on I-80 East and drive 21 miles (over Carquinez Bridge) to exit 30A for I-780 (signed Benicia/Martinez). Take that exit 0.3 of a mile, merge onto I-780, and drive 2.2 miles to Exit 3A (toward Columbus Parkway). Take that exit and — while still on the offramp — turn left into the State Recreation Area and right (toward the pay station). The road continues for 1.6 miles. A parking lot, trailheads and picnic sites are at the road’s end.

Distances: 6 miles from Vallejo, 17 miles from Walnut Creek, 22 miles from Berkeley, 34 miles from downtown San Francisco, 33 miles from San Rafael, 52 miles from San Mateo.

Tom Stienstra is the outdoors writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. He is America’s first Back Country Sportsman of the Year and the only two-time National Outdoor Writer of the year. In 2008, he won first place for best outdoors column in America. As a photographer with The Chronicle, he won first place in America for best outdoors feature image in 2011. That year he was also awarded as Far West Ski Writer of the Year. His books have sold more than 1 million copies. His first novel, "The Sweet Redemption, An Inspector Korg Mystery," was released for 2013. His television show on CBS/CW won first place as America’s best outdoor recreation show, and his radio show on CBS won first place in 2010 for best environmental feature show in America. Tom has hiked 25,000 miles, caught world-record fish, led dozens of expeditions and taken part in all phases of the outdoor experience. He was the fourth living member inducted into the California Outdoors Hall of Fame.